Toyota top Silverstone Free Practice after Rebellion FP1 surprise

The 2019/2020 FIA World Endurance Championship has begun in earnest with the first two free practice sessions for the 4 Hours of Silverstone.

All eyes were on the leading LMP1 class after a swathe of adjustments aimed at reducing the gap between the factory-entered Toyotas and the two privateer teams. However, it was one of the latter pair, Rebellion Racing, who drew first blood in Silverstone free practice.

New signing Norman Nato’s 1:38.860 gave the Swiss team the honours in the first competitive timed session of the new season, as teams put their new-for-2019 cars to the test for the first time. The Frenchman was just under half a second faster than the fastest works driver, Sébastien Buemi, in the #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid.

All but two drivers in LMP1 improved their
times in FP2, and a flyer from Kamui Kobayashi in the #7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid
gave the Cologne-based squad the spoils. The Japanese driver’s time of 1:36.847
came within just one tenth of the pole position lap here last season. The
remainder of the Rebellion and Toyota drivers were covered by less than a
second.

Ginetta returned to the FIA WEC fray after
their enforced hiatus, with the Team LNT squad recording a total of 56 times
laps over the course of the two sessions. The #6 machine was forced to sit out
the first session with electrical but overall it was a promising day for the
British team.

United Autosports show strong pace in LMP2

The #22 United Autosports Oreca of di
Resta/Albuquerque/Hanson was quite clearly the class of the field at Silverstone,
topping the time sheets in both sessions.

Di Resta and Albuquerque’s fastest times
were just 0.07 seconds apart, at 1:43.059 and 1:43.066 respectively. The only
driver to come within a tenth was Kenta Yamashita in the #33 High Class Racing Oreca,
making its WEC debut in the UK this weekend.

One second separates GTE Pro runners

The somewhat reduced GTE Pro field for
2019/2020 appears to be just as competitive as ever, with less than a second
separating the twelve drivers in the six-car class over the two sessions.

James Calado went fastest for the #51 AF
Corse Ferrari 488 GTE EVO over the course of the day with a 1:55.501 posted in
FP2. The second- and third-fastest drivers over the two sessions were Richard
Lietz and Gianmaria Bruni in the brand-new #91 Porsche 911 RSR-19.

Fastest for Aston Martin was Nicky Thiim in
the #95 machine, just under half a second slower than Calada’s fastest lap
time.

Aston Martin fastest in GTE Am

It was a better day for the British marque
in the largest class of the 2019/2020 FIA WEC. Ross Gunn and Charlie Eastwood
were the two fastest drivers during Friday’s practice for the #98 Aston Martin
Racing and the #90 TF Sport efforts respectively.

Memory lane

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